Tesla is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect the car maker to report fourth-quarter earnings of 19 cents a share on $646 million in sales.

That would compare with a loss of 65 cents on $306 million in sales a year ago. Tesla shares have gained 425% in the past 12 months, and 46% in the past three months. Or, to paint to clearer picture, just a year ago Tesla shares closed at $38.45.

Tesla shares started their nice move up right around the Detroit auto show in mid January. That’s when the company said fourth-quarter sales of its Model S sedan had blown its own forecast out of the water — 20% above their expectations.

In Detroit, Tesla’s vice-president of global sales and service, Jerome Guillen, said in a press conference that, on the sales side, “it’s reckless growth,” saying later he misspoke and meant to say “relentless growth.”

Enter China. In late January, Tesla’s Beijing showroom took a couple hundred orders for Model S cars during its first two days. “That was a nice start,” said Craig Irwin, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.

And that’s for a car that would be delivered in August. In a city that has a license plate lottery system to reduce congestion and pollution that gives plates to about 10% of applicants. Tesla electric cars are not yet able to leapfrog the system and must wait to get a plate in the standard system.

Another boost came when Tesla won a nod from Consumer Reports, which raved about the cars, and talk of a newer, higher-capacity battery pack.

Wall Street is also expecting Tesla to say it will be running into capacity constraints for the Model S, likely by the end of the year. Tesla could announce plans to expand capacity, Irwin said.

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